


Feelings? Check: Yes or No

by montygew



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Confessions, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, Holding Hands, M/M, get ready for lots of that my dudes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-15
Updated: 2019-08-15
Packaged: 2020-09-03 02:28:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20256928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/montygew/pseuds/montygew
Summary: Feelings are a weird subject. In the moment it's one thing and in hindsight it's another and frankly, Bart doesn't have the patience to unravel anything he may or may not have felt.Eduardo thinks otherwise. Feelings determine actions, so everyone should at least be a little bit aware of how they feel about something- or someone.Maybe they'll learn a thing or two from each other.





	Feelings? Check: Yes or No

**Author's Note:**

> this was created in honour of all those who are starving for content of these two. lets go crumb gang
> 
> Edit [15/02/20]: Tried to make the conversation flow better, as it felt a bit unnatural. Story has remained mostly the same.

Eduardo had enough. "Okay, you wanna tell me what's up with you?"

Bart had the audacity to look surprised. "What do you mean?"

"You've been cringing and frowning for the whole movie – and, yeah, it's pretty bad but you usually make fun of these things. Now, you're just… Sulking."

"I am _ not _ sulking," Bart insisted as he slouched into the couch more, proving Ed's point. He seemed to have noticed that, immediately sitting back upright, mouth still in a small pout.

Sighing, Eduardo reached for the remote and paused the rom-com flick they'd been watching. "You're seriously going there? Denial?"

"I'm not in denial."

"Bart… We've talked about this before. You can _ talk _ to me. I'm here for you if you just need to let things out."

"It's- It's not anything like the things we've talked about before. And even if it was, tonight's friend night – I don't wanna bring your day job into friend night."

Eduardo leant down as he propped his elbows over his knees, trying to catch Bart's eyes. "Bart, this isn't me being a peer counsellor. It's me caring about my friend and being worried when you act weird. If anything, things like this are _ exactly for _friend night."

Bart chewed on the inside of his cheek, eyes unfocused before sighing loudly. "Jaime's been spending more time with Traci – and I'm happy for them, I really am – but I just…" He cut himself off with a groan. He ran his hands through his hair, scrubbing at his face until it grew red from the contact.

" I just feel like- like such a _ third wheel _ sometimes! It's not like they're going overboard with the PDA or- or like, ask me to go away for 'couple time' or whatever, but I always feel like they're holding back from doing all that couple stuff because _ I'm _ around and it- it's _ so moded. _

"He-- Jaime said that just because he's dating someone doesn't mean we'll stop hanging out – and like, Traci's great_ , _ she's genuinely amazing – but it's times like _ that _ – when they look like they wanna do all that cute couple stuff but they don't and I- I just… I feel like it's not just three friends hanging out anymore.

"And – this is gonna sound insane – I just feel like- like Jaime's…" Bart paused for longer than he had for his whole vent, breathing deeply.

"Like Jaime's leaving you behind?" Ed offered.

"I… Yeah. I guess so. Kinda? And like, it's not _him, _it's my problem because… Dude, sometimes I feel like Jaime is _mine._ He's _my _person. And to see him being so happy around other people is just… weird."

Ed hesitated. "_'Mine' _ as in--"

"I just have this--" Bart patted his chest. "This _ heavy _ feeling whenever I see him all lovey-dovey." Another pause. "And I guess the movie just reminded me of it."

Chewing the inside of his cheek, Eduardo tried again. "Just for clarification – When you say _ 'mine', _ do you mean… like, romantically?"

"_What? _" Bart's head whipped around to look at him.

"Do you have feelings for Jaime?"

"What? _ No_.” He brought his arms in front of his body in an X then frowned after a moment. “Well, not now. I mean-- things might’ve been different back then but _ now--_”

Ed sat up straighter at that. "What do you mean by that?"

Bart shrugged. "I mean, I know I was a pretty clingy guy back when I first came here – for a completely different reason but that's not the point – but that meant we hung out a lot and I was still clingy _ after _ everything, so… Yeah. Maybe I did feel something like that for him. Way back when."

"But you did. Have feelings for him, that is. At one point." His sentences were short and stunted.

The speedster shrugged again. "Maybe, I don't know. Why's that important?"

"Do you think that maybe, whatever you felt back then might be affecting how you feel now?"

"Nah."

"But how can you be _ sure-_-"

"Ed, _ mi amigo, _ I go by this moral code in life: If I can't figure something out, and if whatever it was, was in the past? Don't worry about it. It's the past. We gotta move forward." Bart's voice grew tight before he shook his head, smothering his face in his hands. "So yeah – Can't tell you my feelings for him a while back but I _ can _ tell you that Jaime is my 100% best friend of all time. Completely platonic. No homo."

Eduardo couldn't hold back his laughter at that. "_Really? _"

Bart gave a cheeky smile. "Just to make sure you got the memo."

"_I get it, _ " Ed wheezed out, recovering from his laughing, "Back to serious talk for a second. Whatever your feelings, now and back then, it makes sense that you're a bit possessive over him. You guys were-- _ are _ practically inseparable--"

"Think that's more on me-" Bart interrupted.

Eduardo pushed on. "_Whoever _ was responsible – It makes sense that you feel that way."

"Yeah, well. That's not really healthy… Is it?"

"No. No, it's not. But-- It's not _ good, _but you have a reason for it. You just need to work on being less, y'know, possessive."

Despite his unfocused gaze and his furrowed brow, Bart nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

A hard nudge by Ed's shoulder snapped him out of his reverie. Soon enough, a genuine smile lit up Bart's face.

"You alright there, _ amigo_?" Eduardo asked, voice gentle.

Bart inclined his head, in consideration. "Yeah. Thanks again, Ed. Don't know how I'd function without you."

"Ah, you give me too much credit." After a moment of hesitation– "Sorry for bringing this up again, but how are you _ so sure _ that you don't have feelings for Jaime? You always-- I mean, I don't want to assume anything. Just asking."

Running a hand through his hair again, Bart huffed out a laugh. "There any reason you're so interested there, hermano?"

His nose immediately scrunched up as he leaned back slightly. "I just--"

"I'm joking, Eduardo." An amused smile found its way onto Bart's face. "Like I said before, can't be sure about back then but now, I can tell you for sure that I love him as a friend."

Bart shrugged, and as casually as possible, he added. "Plus, these days there's someone else that I've got some feelings for."

"Oh?" Eduardo struggled to hold his tongue from prying into that subject more. He averted his eyes, instead looking to the television which had timed out and was now a black screen.

"Yeah." Bart sighed, supporting his arms over his legs, as he leaned forward to look at the black screen too. "They're great, dude. They always make me feel so happy when I'm around them. Everytime I see them, I always think _ 'God, they're so crash. The crashiest to ever crash in all history of crashing things.' _"

Eduardo couldn't really bring himself to laugh at the awkward phrasing of words. He focused on his own reflection in the dark screen.

"And sometimes I think that I really don't deserve them because they're just such a good person. Always helping people out and I'm over here, running around, while _they're_ doing all that and _actually_ helping people and that's not even the _best_ thing about them.

"They have this- this _ smile. _ This smile that, whenever he smiles at me like that, I feel like I'm on top of the world."

The change of pronouns didn't go unnoticed by Eduardo, but he kept his face calm even as his shoulders tensed.

"And his _ eyes, _ God, I could go on for _ hours _ about how beautiful his eyes are. They're so _ warm _ and comforting and when I look into his eyes, it feels like being wrapped up in a cozy blanket. And they- They _ shine. _ Not like a light, but they shine with this- this _ life _ that's so much brighter than _ anything _ I've ever seen. It's like seeing a star right up close, and I can't _ not _ look into eyes every time I see him.

"When I'm with him I get butterflies, and I feel breathless but _safe_ and it feels like _running _but without any effort but it also feels like _flying _because I just feel so light whenever I'm around him and-- _God, _I'm _so_ _moded._"

Eduardo hadn't even realised he had turned to face Bart in the middle of his speech – confession? – but when he did, he took in the speedster.

Flushed and sighing loudly, Bart had the widest grin on his face. At some point, he had leaned closer to Eduardo, shoulders sagged in relief at his confession. His eyes looked dazed and--

And they were looking right at Eduardo.

And by some miracle of confidence, or maybe he was too stunned to move, Ed didn't look away.

Breathing deeply as he did so, Ed leaned back into the couch. "Okay. _ Wow. _ And you're sure about… _ all that_?"

The wide grin turned into a lopsided smile as Bart inclined his head. "I've never been sure about anything _ but _ this."

A long silence stretched between them, enough time for the redness on Bart's face to calm down. Not nearly long enough for Eduardo to decode everything that was happening.

"Is there… Anything _ you're _ feeling?" Bart's hand slowly – _ glacially _– inched off of his knee, to hang over his thigh. 

Eduardo glanced down at the movement. As he looked back up at the speedster, he could see red crawling back up his neck.

When he spoke, his voice was barely above a whisper. "Yeah." A pause. "Is there anything you want to know?"

"Is there anything I _ should _ know?" Bart's voice had also dropped to a whisper. His whole neck had turned a deep red. His fingers were just barely grazing his own. His eyes were wide and green, so green--

"_Yeah. _" Eduardo practically sighed out the word.

With a small nudge of his hand, he slid his fingers between the speedster's. The action called Bart to attention, following up the motion by interlocking their shaking hands together.

"_Yeah, _" Bart said with an uneven breath, his entire face red now.

Eduardo chuckled softly. "How many more times are we gonna say _ 'Yeah' _?''

"As many as it takes to believe this is happening," Bart replied honestly, allowing a small laugh at the situation too.

"Why wouldn't it be?" Eduardo squeezed their hands gently and _ wow, _ Bart could definitely get used to this holding hands thing.

"Because I feel like I've finally gotten something figured out _ in the moment _." He looked at their intertwined hands. "And this is right after I felt weird about other things! So maybe I'm having trouble believing it, sue me!"

Eduardo clutched his stomach as he laughed heartily, unintentionally pulling Bart closer by their linked hands.

"_Ay, _Bart, always crushing the mood, aren't you?"

"No way, hermano, I'm always _ crashing the mode. _" Bart wiggled his eyebrows.

Another laugh erupted out of Eduardo, who tried to give a playful shove.

Bart just leaned back further into the couch with the momentum of the shove, pulling Ed along with him to the point that he was practically leaning on Bart. Ed didn't seem to mind.

In the next moment, it was almost as if the spirits of every bad rom-com Bart had ever watched had possessed him. He brought up their interlocked hands to his own face, cupping them with his free hand, then planting a soft brush of lips to their fingers.

All the playfulness that was on Eduardo's face faded, quickly replaced instead by a small smile. Despite his calm expression, he was sure their proximity allowed Bart to feel the racing beat in his chest.

"Is that okay?" He asked quietly.

The small smile grew into a full fledged grin. "Yeah. More than okay."

Ed leaned away so that he wasn't draped over Bart anymore, untangling their fingers. The speedster was about to protest the action when Ed gently tugged on Bart's hand to pull him up into a sitting position.

He made a motion for Bart's other hand, which he offered readily, but didn't move to slot their fingers together again.

Instead, Eduardo lightly rubbed circles into the back of his hands. Bart didn't manage to hold back his shiver at the action.

The circling stopped. "This okay?" Ed mumbled out in question. His eyes quickly found Bart's own, concerned that he'd overstepped.

"Yeah. _ Definitely _ yeah." Bart was fully aware the redness in his face hadn't calmed down yet. He glanced down between them as the circling motions started again. "I could get used to this. Could _ definitely _ get used to this."

Eduardo chuckled again. "Yeah?"

Meeting his eyes, Bart gave a dopey grin. "_Yeah. _"

**Author's Note:**

> alternatively titled:
> 
> "let them hold hands damnit" and "the boys say Yeah about a thousand times"
> 
> I actually wrote a few other scenes of then talking about things but I decided on just posting this one. It's the one I planned on writing from the start.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed reading, and remember kids: kudos is validation


End file.
